Fire and Water: And Other Hawaiian Legends

Summary

Fire and Water is the first written collection of stories based on Hawaiian legends told on Maui. It is a classic Hawaiian children's book.

The setting for this delightful collection of stories is the volcanoes and mountains, the blue seas, white sands, and clear skies of Maui Island in Hawaiia place as rich in legends and myths as any in the world.

Fire and Water is the first written collection of stories based on legends told on Maui. They have been retold in a style that will appeal to young and old readers alike. Though writing primarily for children, Barbara Lyons has conveyed the conflicts, emotions, and personalities of the characters whose stories have been told and retold by generations of Hawaiians.

Readers will meet princesses and sharkmen, dragons and owlgods, as well as ordinary boys and girls in the midst of amazing adventures. In some of the stories, they will learn how Maui traditions began and how any Hawaiian places got their names.

The striking illustrations by Maui artist Betty Rice add a new dimension to each story . A pronunciation guide and glossary of Hawaiian words enables the reader to take one step further inside this enchanted world.

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Fire and Water - Betty Rice

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Glossary

Pele, the goddess of fire, stood near her home in Pu'u Laina and regarded it critically. It was a nice little pit, yes. Warm and cozy when her fire was burning, and the view down the hillside was delightful. Yet Pele yearned for something larger, and at a more commanding height.

Slowly she turned and walked up the steep grade of the mountain on whose slopes the volcanic cone, Pu'u Laina, stood. This was Mauna Kahalawai, the Meeting Place between Heaven and Earth—a range of towering peaks, and valleys with sheer ridged walls on which grew the pale-leafed kukui tree and the silvery koa. Pele might have been quite happy here, had it not been for what she could see from the summit.

Hale-a-ka-la, she whispered to herself. House of the Sun. Entranced, she gazed across at the great mountain that rose in majesty beyond the plain.

Several times Pele's enemy, the sea goddess Na-maka-o-Kaha'i, had driven her from homes on other islands, islands that she had built up with her lava. But this time she would move because she wanted to, and not to another island.

How powerful she could be from such a height! When her lava had raised Hale-a-ka-la even higher, she would be able to look down on all the world; yet she could retire when she liked into the mists that so often shrouded the upper slopes—mists that would mingle with the clouds of her own smoke.

Swiftly she ran down the hillside and put out her fire, then set out on the long trip. Through a precipitous valley of Mauna Kahalawai, across the plain of Kulaka-ma'-oma'o, the Place Where the Heat Waves Shimmer. Then up the long, gradual ascent to the top of the world. She hurried through the clouds that lay on the mountainside like a damp veil.

How I hate dampness, she muttered, trying to wipe the moisture from her arms and to shake it from her feet. Getting my feet wet is the worst of all!

But when she reached the mountain's top, she was glad of the clouds. She hoped that they would wrap her in secrecy as she worked, and that before Na-maka-o-Kaha'i knew what was happening, billows of volcanic smoke would hover above Pele's new home.

The sea goddess, however, had very sharp eyes. From her watery home, she saw the goddess of fire vanish into the bank of clouds.

What can that Pele be up to? she asked herself, watching uneasily for the other to reappear.

Pele worked hard, hidden by the dense clouds, and in time she had dug herself an enormous crater and lighted a fire in it. It became beautifully warm, and she basked in her glorious new home.

I will call this Lua Pele, she said, the Crater of Pele.

When Na-maka-o-Kaha'i saw the rising smoke, glowing red as it reflected Pele's fire, she was furious. She called her pet sea dragon to her and said, Let us go and destroy our enemy. Think how she must be gloating over this, up there!

But she's so high, protested the dragon. So far from the lovely wet ocean. And he flipped his tail and glided deep into the water.

It took the sea goddess several days to find him. He's so naughty! she complained to herself as she searched. I don't know why I put up with him. But she did know, really, for of all her dragons, he was the fiercest when aroused.

At last, she spied him hiding under the edge of a coral reef at the bottom of the sea, and grabbed his tail as he tried to slip away.

It's too hot now, you see? sputtered the sea goddess. We'd roast under that sun. And besides, she'd see us coming—we'll just have to wait.

Finally, the conditions seemed just right. A day came when heavy mists banked the higher slopes of the mountain, and the sun was pale behind a cloud in the sky.

They crossed the plain in a rush, leaving a wet trail behind them. When they reached the mists, they went slowly while the cool, delicious vapors replenished their supplies of moisture. They could hear the roar of a river of lava as it spilled out through a gap in the side of Pele's crater.

The sound excited the dragon, and water began to pour from his nose and mouth. The heat was terrific. Flames crackled as they leaped into the air about Pele, and tongues of fire darted out to surround her attackers.

Ouch! cried the sea goddess, and the dragon deluged Pele with a great stream of water.

A sound of sizzling took the place of the crackling of fire.

Oh, oh! wailed Pele, as the beast drenched her with a spray until her long hair clung wetly about her. This dreadful water all over me, and on my lovely fire! Poor Pele! She hated getting her feet wet, and here she was, soaked.

This is sure to be the finish of you! hissed the sea goddess.

Never! stormed Pele.

But she was right. With Pele soaked and miserable, it was easy for the sea goddess to conquer her. Na-maka-o-Kaha'i ordered her dragon to attack, and he tore Pete